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MULTNOMAH COUNTY, OR (KPTV) — New this year, ballots are being collected at book-drops at Multnomah County Library Book drops in addition to official ballot drop boxes.
It’s had some wondering what happens to those ballots and who’s collecting them.
Those book drops work the exact same as a large ballot drop box bin and can be accessed anytime day or night.
Multnomah County says library staff is working hard to make sure every vote is counted.
The county says voters can place their ballot and library books in the same spot, and staff will work to make sure every vote that’s dropped inside are collected and not stuck in between any book pages.
The process then works very similarly to an official dropbox.
Ballots are placed into locked bins, which are then collected daily by the Multnomah County Elections Office.
Some also may wonder who is collecting those ballots and how they can make sure they are safe, but the county says there is no difference between library employees and employees at the elections office.
“All of our library employees are sworn in as election officials, so they take the oath the same as we do every election to uphold the constitution and make sure they provide integrity in the process, and there’s always two of them when they’re clearing the books and the ballots from the book drop,” Tim Scott, Multnomah County Elections office.
Office says once the ballots are collected from the library, they follow the same process as any other ballot.
The elections office says this change came about to expand access to voting during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The county elections office says its job is to remove barriers for voters, and allowing votes in the book drop does just that.
With the election only six days away, the office says voters should drop off their ballots into a dropbox and not put it in the mail.
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